Thomas claeey



T. OLAERY.-

SPINNING TOP.

(No Model.)

Patented Oct. 9, 1883.

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NiTED STATES SPlNNlNG-TOP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 286,177, dated October 9, 1883.

Application filed June 7, 1983.

zen of the United States, and a resident of the town of Greenbush, county of Rensselaer, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in \Vhip Tops and \Vhips Operating with the same, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of toy tops and whips for spinning the same; and it consists of atop having asolid body,with theupperhal t,

or portion of its height of body made with plain cylindrical sides from their top edges down to the base of the invcrted-cone-like lower half or portion, and a whip having a series of two or more lashes attached'to the same stoclgwhereby the said plain cylindrical sides of the top will be adapted to receive the wind age of the series of two or more lashes of said whip simultaneously as the whip is applied to the same.

Heretofore whip-tops and whips for operat ing tops have been so constructed that a windage of only a single lash on the sides of the top would be had, for the reason that the portion of the sides, having a uniformly-same largest diameter in the top, have been made to have such a small extension in a vertical direction as to be insufficient (in extent of parallel or vertical sides) to receive the windage of more than a single lash of the whip, and the whips employed were made to have but a single lash. With this old form of top and whip the opera tor was liable to miss effecting awindage of the lash in many of the strokes of the whip, and the top could not be'steadily spun,except by an expert competent to strike unerringly the top exactly on its limited portion of vertical sides.

whip applied successively to each top.

My object is to provide means by which an operator (not an expert in striking exactly the same place on the sides of the top) may readily and unerringly strike the top at some point on its verticallyextended parallel or vertical sides with some one or more of the series of lashes of the whip provided, and will be enabled to maintain several of my improved tops in spinning motion at the same time with the same I attain these objects by means illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which there are two (2) figures illustrating my invention, in all (No model.)

of which the same letters ofreference indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Figure 1. represents a side elevation of my improved whip-top and whip employed therewith, and Fig. 2 is a vertical view of the same.

In the drawings, A represents the body of the top, which is made solid and of wood. The lower half portion of this body is made in the form of an inverted cone. The upper half portion of this body is made cylindrical in form and with its sides a parallel or vertical. This upper half'portion is the whip-wiinlage portion of the top, and is made for best results to have its diameter about equal to the length of vertical extension of the top from its spinning end below to the top edge of its vertical sides (from the line of its junction or intersection with the taper lines of the sides of eonesection a to the line of top edge of vertical sides a) about equal to one-half of the whole height of the top from its spinning-point to line of top edge of said vertical sides c. The cone-shape lowerportion of the upper surface bounded by the upper marginal edges of vertical sides a,

may be finished with polish; but in no case.

should the surface of the vertical sides a be polished, as the lashes of the whip would not hold with such, polished sides, though they wouldreceive the windage of the lashes of the whip.

B is the whip, composed of stock I) and a series of lashes, I) Z), two or more, made with a uniform length of from nine (9) to ten (10) inches, and arranged side by side, as shown in Fig. 1.. These lashes are preferably made of leather,.though they may be made of cord. They join with a flattened-head end portion, 1)", (with which they are continuous,)by which these lashes are securely connectedwith stock I).

To spin the top the operator will first start the top in its rotary movement by giving it a slight rotary movement with his two hands, and then applying the whip with a quick movement, so as to strike the windage portion of the top, as shown in Fig. 1, when the lashes will spread slightly apart and have temporarily a tight windage and holding on the unpolished surface of the windage portion of the top, and impart to the top a rapid whirl atthe same ti me the lashes are being unwound by the a These vertical sides have their extension operator carrying the lash end of the whip forward. The strokes ofthe whip may be applied rapidly or at short intervals after a rapid spinning movement has been imparted to the top, when the operator may start and give a rapid spinning movement to a secondtop, and atthe same time maintain a rapid spinning movement of the first top by occasionally whipping the same, and also start and keep spinning a third or fourth top, or a larger number of tops, and keep the whole number spinning simultaneously. In these operations the vertical extension of surface of the windage portion of the to knock the top over, so that the topwill be made to stand more steady under each stroke of the whip. r

.I am aware that whipping-tops have been made with a lower cone-shaped portion, and a windage portion having vertical sides and with an annular projecting fillet at near the lower termination of the windage portion and above the (inverted) base of the cone-shaped lower portion of the top. Tops with such a fillet form no part of my invention, and will not operate as will m yimproved top above described, for the reason that the lateral projection of the annular fillet above the conical lower portion of the top operates to so reduce the vertical extension of the windage-surface of the same as to prevent more than a single lash of a whip to have a holding with the same, andwhen the fillet is struck by a lash in a slightly-downthe proportions substantially described, wherewardly direction with the force of the blow of the lash received on the upper side of the same, this old form of top will be'made to jump or .topple over, while by my improved form of sides of the windage portion of the top no such defective operations will be had.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s

1 A whip-top which is solid in its body and having the surface of its windage portion unpolished, and the wi11dage portion made with extensions both diametrical and vertical, in

by the top will be adapted to receive and hold with the windage of a series of two or more lashes of the same whip simultaneously, for the purpose set forth.

2. A top-whip composed of stock I) and agroupor series of two or more lashes, b I each of equal length with the others and arranged side by side and continuous with a connecting portion, 12', all substantially as described, whereby. the whip, when operated with the t0p,will be adapted to effect a simultaneous windage of two or more of its lashes evenly on the windage-surface .of the above-described top, for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination of a top-whip having a series or group of two or more lashes arranged neighboring to each other and connected with a stock, as above described, with a whip-top having a plain unpolished windage-surface, made with relative proportions of extensions, 75 both diametrical and vertical, as set forth, for the purposes specified.

THOMAS OLAERY.

Witnesses:

ALEX. SELKIRK, J r., ELNATH AN 13. TYLER. 

